


A Journey Where Something is Born

by LancePuns



Series: Fluffcember 2020 [7]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluffcember, Fluffcember 2020, Houen-chihou | Hoenn Region (Pokemon), Jouto-chihou | Johto Region (Pokemon), Kalos-chihou | Kalos Region (Pokemon), Kantou-chihou | Kanto Region (Pokemon), Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Shinou-chihou | Sinnoh Region (Pokemon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27941753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LancePuns/pseuds/LancePuns
Summary: Paul's journey from start to present, and the words of a champion that make him ponder.Fluffcember Day 7: A Journey
Relationships: Hikari | Dawn/Shinji | Paul
Series: Fluffcember 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039902
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	A Journey Where Something is Born

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't mean for this to become 1000 words? Whoops? Well, it's my first time writing for these two, and I really enjoyed it! I should write more pokemon stuff. Really, I should write more in general, but that's beside the point.
> 
> If you want to see the full prompt list, check here: https://twitter.com/doop_doop2/status/1306753380182712321?s=21

His journey started in Sinnoh, where he watched his brother get beaten by Brendan of the Battle Pyramid. At the time, he was a naive beginning trainer who believed his brother was the strongest trainer around. But when Reggie lost to Brendan, he abruptly realized that that wasn’t the case. He realized that he didn’t want to be weak. To be a quitter like Reggie was. His idol abandoned his goals, but Paul refused to let the same happen to him.

He traveled to Hoenn, wandering the region, battling gym leaders and catching only the strongest pokemon he could find. It was there that his Turtwig and he began to grow in power. He would catch an Aron, a Makuhita, and a Snorunt, and all would begin evolving as he went through the region. He caught others, but compared to these four, they were weak. Aron eventually became Larion, Makuhita became Hariyama, and Turtwig became Grotle and, eventually, Torterra. But he was inexperienced and as talented as he was, nothing was better than experience. He lost in Hoenn, but he learned a lot, and he grew. Paul was confident he could win.

He traveled to Kanto, where he found the gym leaders to be a joke most of the time. Perhaps it was just that he was better than he was before, or perhaps Kanto truly had worse gym leaders than Hoenn did. But that didn’t matter to him. The gym leaders gave him the badges he needed. Along the way, he had caught a Magmar and a Nidorino. Both eventually evolved to their strongest forms, and with that, he was confident he could win it all. But he was overconfident, made too many wrong calls, and had lost earlier than anyone expected, especially Reggie. His older brother tried to talk to him after his loss, but he wouldn’t respond. Paul learned he could never underestimate his foes, or he would get punished for it.

He traveled to Johto, where he found many pokemon that he decided were strong enough to keep with him, and challenging gym leaders to boot. Murkrow, Elekid, Sneasel, and Ninjask were all-powerful additions to his team. It was in Johto that his Snorunt evolved into a Froslass, making him stronger. But it was also in Johto that he caught a Chimchar that had extraordinary potential. Its Blaze ability gave it such immense strength that he couldn’t help but catch it to begin training once it was healed. He was confident that he could win with the team he had gathered, but Johto proved to be a very difficult league, and he would go out sooner than he wanted (going out at all). Next time, Paul wouldn’t fail.

He traveled back to Sinnoh, ready to tackle his home region’s league and truly win. He’d competed in three leagues and now he had plenty of experience, a strong team, and a solid regime for training. His pokemon were being trained and would become stronger than his team had ever been before. He would battle several of the gym leaders and win handily on his first try, catch Gliscor, Ursaring, Drapion, and Gastrodon, and evolve his other pokemon like Elekid, Larion, Murkrow, and Sneasel into Electivire, Aggron, Honchkrow, and Weavile. His team was extremely powerful at this point, and he could feel his strength rise.

There was that boy, the one that reminded him too much of Reggie, that would get on his nerves whenever he were around. Paul had never lost to him leading up to the league, and although Cynthia’s motto claims something new was born when they met, he felt confident the trainer that looked at Chimchar’s lack of strength without Blaze and saw potential after he had trained it for months and got nothing was absolutely idiotic.

But the same could not entirely be said about his traveling companion, the girl with blue hair and the Piplup. At first, he didn’t even pay attention to her, but slowly, he came to not mind her company, which was more than he could say about most everyone in the world. Even when she eavesdropped on him and Reggie, Paul couldn’t get mad at her. She simply wanted to understand, which was something that no one but Reggie had offered him before.

Maybe his time away from his brother made him more solitary, but tolerated her more than he bothered admitting to anyone, and even when he lost to Ash, Paul found himself being more at peace than he expected, like knowing these people and having some sort of connection with them changed him. 

Maybe Cynthia had a point.

After the league was over, he decided he would travel to Kalos and compete there next. He caught some new pokemon, and they were sufficiently strong, but his time in Kalos harbored no more success than his previous league attempts. He headed to Johto and hoped this time, with his team stronger than ever, he’d be able to win.

But after a hard-fought battle in Ecruteak City, he once again met up with the girl. Dawn, he remembered this time. The two exchanged pleasantries, and Dawn said she was competing tomorrow in a contest. She asked him to attend and watch her, stating she missed knowing there were people she knew routing for her in the building. The Paul from when they first met would’ve declined, saying something like he needed to train, but after a hard-fought battle against Morty, Paul felt his pokemon deserved a day of rest, and he had nothing better to do. He accepted, and Dawn seemed happily surprised by this.

It was while he was watching the contest, Paul thought about Cynthia’s words again. “When two people meet, something is born”. What was the “something born” with him and Dawn? He initially thought her words only meant he and Ash, their clash of philosophies being born, but perhaps he was too narrow-minded. Something new was definitely born between the battler and the coordinator, but he wasn’t sure exactly what. He just felt something within him brighten a little bit when Dawn came out on top.

He’ll figure it out eventually.


End file.
